Monet, Floristry Level 3

Floristry student, Monet Martin, originally came to have a look around Merrist Wood College with a view to enrolling on an Equine course having had a lifelong interest in horses. Monet says, “My dyslexia made school quite tricky for me at times, and I was never particularly academic, so a course working with horses seemed the perfect option for me and it had always been a desire of mine to study at Merrist Wood College once I had finished my GCSEs”.

A chance encounter with a Floristry tutor changed everything. “As we walked past the Floristry department, my mum wanted to pop in and look at the floral displays, and we just got chatting to the Floristry team. Twenty minutes later, we came out and I was hooked and ready to attend a taster day!”

The taster day sealed the deal for Monet, it became clear to her where her talents really lay and she enrolled on the Level 2 course.  Following a great year learning the basics, Monet successfully progressed on to Level 3, entering various floristry competitions including winning a silver award at the prestigious Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival and entering the global World Skills competition with the support and encouragement of her tutors. Monet’s ambition drove her to progress on to the Level 4 Floristry course where she and fellow student Steph successfully applied and auditioned to be contestants on new TV show, The Great Flower Fight, on Netflix. “It was a fantastic experience for us both, we met some amazing people and worked on the biggest floral project I think I’ll ever get the chance to be involved with!” Monet said of her time on the show.

Monet now runs her own successful floristry business from a purpose-built studio at the bottom of her garden and is building quite a following on social media following her appearance on the show. “If it hadn’t been for that chance encounter on my college tour, life could have turned out very differently for me! I love what I do now and it’s all down to the amazing tutors at Merrist Wood. They spotted something in me that I didn’t even know I had, and for that I’ll be forever grateful!”